This Grubski post will not be voted upon, it is meant solely for us to share with one another the feasts we are preparing tomorrow, Thursday November 26, 2015
For what it's worth, I would like to say that I am extremely thankful for this community. This has been a challenging year for me. So many of you have been there for me during the challenges. But, equally as important is that you have been there to help celebrate the victories too.
Many of you write me and let me know about the challenges and the victories you have in your lives. I feel honored that you should do so. I am extremely proud of what Hubski has become, thank you so much!
Now, post some pictures of your food dammit!
Shoutout a from las year:
ts of past participants and observers:
kleinbl00, veen, Complexity,_refugee_, flagamuffin, zebra2, rjw, wasoxygen, humanodon, ghostoffuffle, rezzeJ, thenewgreen, b_b, flagamuffin, insomniasexx
Meriadoc, OftenBen, ButterflyEffect, elizabeth. Also shouting out to mk and forwardslash rob05c, Quatrarius @coffersp00ns@, nowaypablo, galen, lil, ecib and everyone else....
Last year:
I didn't think I'd have a Thanksgiving this year. I was resigned to the fact that would be my first Thanksgiving-less year, me out alone in the wilds of Norway with my kids celebrating with my ex-wife. The day before I bought a pack of processed turkey slices, intending to eat a turkey sandwich alone for spite. But the morning of Thanksgiving I had a change of heart. I had two folks working out at my business and my partner would be coming around lunch-time with a visiting professor from Bergen and asked if I could prepare some lunch. Prepare I would! I went to the store and bought a marinaded turkey breast and other supplies. The turkey was frozen, so I tried for a quick-thaw with 90 minutes in a sink of warm water and then 90 minutes in the oven. Would it be enough? I made mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked carrots, beets, pears, cranberry juice, pie, and an assortment of crackers and cheeses. A "small" set of dishes, but good enough for short notice. I set the table, placed out the food and candles, and then pulled the turkey, hoping against all hopes it would be ready. It was bright pink inside. Damnit! BUT - remember the pack of sliced turkey product? I did! I opened the pack and did some turkey-origami to make the perfect bird shape. I brought it out on a cutting board with a flourish and proceeded to proudly carve the best Thankgiving turkey these Norwegians had ever seen! We got half a bite each of turkey, but there was more than enough of everything else and it turned out to be a really lovely event. The real turkey was ready in the evening and made for delicious "left-overs". Thanksgiving turned out ok after all.
Me to my daughter, "what do you think of this picture?" Daughter, "awww, she is cute. Can we play?" Me, "maybe someday." Let's make that happen sometime. Happy thanksgiving pal!
I spent my Thanksgiving day reading a book at the library :) For dinner, I ate at an Italian restaurant in Malaysia with an American movie on TV (the one with Joseph Gordon Levitt where he bikes around Manhattan or something). I love my family loads, but boy was it nice to spend thanksgiving on my own. Hope everyone has a wonderful day, and stay safe if you're traveling!
The sandwich below, with only a few exceptions, as everything we had for Thanksgiving on it. It was absolutely delicious: Corn pudding, mashed sweet potato and habanero, mashed garlic potatoes and gravy, turkey, pomegranate salad, St. Andre cheese. Mmmm
I shall be enjoying airline food tomorrow. And of course by 'food' I mean Canadian club and ginger ale, mixed with adavan, a thanksgiving fit for a king. My first anniversary is Friday, and I will be spending it in Maui, the downside being of course an all day travel day tomorrow. I had a pre-thanksgiving on Saturday, but I lack photos of the occasion. Have a good time, y'all!
That sounds really, really nice. Enjoy and congrats on your first year!
This is beautiful! Does it taste as good as it looks?
Not yet! It's a complicated recipe, I definitely undercooked it a bit this year. Next year it'll spend a little more time under the broiler. Here's the recipe if you ever want to try it. They based the ratatouille in the movie off of this dish!
Game on! Question to the cooks out there: dry brine or wet brine?
There are a lot of people that say a wet brine just basically infuses water in to the bird. A dry brine preserves that natural juices, instead of replacing them. Last year I did a wet brine. This year, I'm trying a dry one.
The basic problem is that turkey, as sold in the United States, is a dead-end agricultural product that has been robbed of all its flavor and mouth-feel in the name of economics and mass production. All these faddist preparations are attempts to infuse some sort of flavor into a meat that is fundamentally flavorless. That's why they all smack of desperation and panic - dry rub, wet brine, deep fry, butter skin, these are all batshit things that serve only to mask the fact that the bird isn't very good. Can you think of any other delicacy we eat that can be bought for 99 cents a pound? I mean, Butterball turkey comes in a tiny percentage of the price of prime rib and we wonder why it tastes like shit. Think about wonderbread - how much magical shit would you have to do to wonderbread to make decent toast out of it? And how much better off would you be if you started with a decent homemade boule to begin with? This was the eighth year in a row I've paid $6/lb for free range, heritage breed turkey. The one we ate was raised by friends of friends. It was about 60% dark meat. It was running around Saturday and in the fridge Sunday. I had no doubts whatsoever that if its wings weren't clipped, it could have flown south for the winter. Drumsticks were about the same size as the breasts, and the breasts, on a 15 lb turkey, were about the size of the chicken breasts you get at the store. We brined it overnight, didn't baste it, didn't do any other stupid bullshit to it and it was impossibly delicious. Of course, that just demonstrates that I front-loaded my fetishism rather than picking it all up on the prep but you know what? It was a lot less work. And now here I am, stuck on the side of a mountain, eating cold turkey with salt and pepper and loving it.
I bought a fresh, organic, free range bird and it was great. I dry rubbed it over night. Wiped off the salt the next day and stuffed it full of apples, sage, rosemary and onion and it was very tasty. Moist and awesome. Not cheap, like $60ish for a 14# -but worth it.
I grew up with super dry turkey every year. Been wet brining for the past 5 and I don't know if I'll ever do anything else. Vegetable stock, salt, ginger, onion, orange or lemon and brown sugar (this year we used Stevia, cause I'm trying to cut back on sugar). Brine for at least 12 hours.
I grew up with completely moist, soft and generally lovely turkey. The trick is making a water barrier with fat. Don't brine. Don't do anything that takes time. Stuff it with whatever you enjoy. Then just cover the bird in saturated fat (vegetable shortening is the go to) then wrap in aluminum foil. Make the oven hot enough to cook the bird through in 3-4 hours and do just that. My parents have never once failed to deliver a perfectly cooked turkey.
I did the same. The results were good. I had a ton of sage and rosemary in it with apples and onions. It worked!
